PRINCE FROM DIRTY MIND TO GRAFFITI BRIDGEA POSTMODERN ARTIST

ALBUMS:

DIRTY MIND (1980) CONTROVERSY (1981) 1999 (1982) PURPLE RAIN (1984) AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY (1985) PARADE (1986) SIGN O THE TIMES (1987) LOVESEXY (1988) BATMAN (1989) GRAFFITI BRIDGE (1990)

Blurred the boundaries between genres:

Rock, soul, funk, pop, psychedelia, avant-garde, jazz, electronic, acoustic, heavy metal, new wave, r ‘n’ bballads, soundtrack

Key songs

When You Were Mine, Head, Controversy, 1999, Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy, Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret, Pop Life, Kiss, Mountains, Sign O The Times, If I Was Your Girlfriend, U Got The Look, Alphabet Street, Batdance, Thieves In The Temple

Prince produced all his own albums in this period. On many songs he played all the instruments. His creativity during this period can only be matched by a few artists, such as The Beatles in the 1960s and David Bowie in the 1970s.

He won 7 Grammys and 1 Academy Award.

He was one of the first black artists to have a video played on MTV.

He sold over 100 million records.

"Prince is the boldest black singer in postmodern music, hands down. His voice has multiple personalities, he's fearless, and when he screams, he truly sounds like he's crazy." Indeed, that throat-shredding climax to "The Beautiful Ones" feels like a man who has lost his mind — it's as convincing as the passion dripping from the lighter-than-air falsetto in "Adore," the pure-rock shouting of "Let's Go Crazy" or the robotic deadpan of "When Doves Cry.“

Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson

"His vocals are just limitless. There's the androgynous, very feminine Prince, there's the James Brown-style Prince, the gospel Prince, the rock & roll Prince. He has so many different textures and dimensions with his voice — and everything is funky. “

Lenny Kravitz